In Mewat, insecurity over social security

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Mewat, July 25

The “denial” of social security benefits in Haryana’s Muslim-dominated district of Mewat is being attributed to the state government’s “saffronisation” agenda, and the charge is coming not just from the dejected applicants, but even their elected representatives.

In Pemakhera village, for instance, 70-year-old Jumma has been making efforts to get old-age pension approved for two years. “He and his wife Shubrati are both eligible. We have filled forms at least 10 times and the sarpanch has forwarded these to the social welfare officer as many times, but pension remains elusive,” claims Jumma’s nephew Shamshudin. Sarpanch Irshad vouches for this. An RTI to ascertain the reason for the delay has also not yielded any result so far. “In my village alone, of the 50 persons whose forms I have sent, only two or three have made it to the list of beneficiaries,” he claims.

Pemakhera’s is not an isolated case where sanction is long overdue, unlike other districts where delay is restricted to a couple of months. In Firozpur Namak, beneficiaries brave the scorching sun to enter the bank where iron grills are pulled together to keep “the crowd” out.

“They have reduced us to beggars. We stand in the sun for hours together to get into the bank. The distribution by the panchayat was far more respectable,” Namnudin, one face in the crowd, says.  Villagers say: “Ask our sarpanch and he will tell you not a single name has been added to the list of beneficiaries over the last many months.” Mohd Idris laments the delay in distribution of pension. It is credited in the third week of the month instead of the first, he says.

Sarpanch Hanif Khan seconds the villagers’ claims. “I have been the sarpanch for nearly five months and not a single form sent by me has been approved,” he says.

At Ghasera, Noor Mohd, armed with his birth certificate showing 1949 as his year of birth, rues being denied old-age pension. “I have submitted documents over and over again, but I don’t qualify as a beneficiary like many other villagers despite fulfilling all conditions,” he says.

Three-time village sarpanch Ashraf says most forms sent by him have met with a similar fate. “There is no response to forms sent over a year ago. It seems the BJP government has no intention to add names to the list of beneficiaries because we belong to a particular community,” he alleges.

Badka Alimudin’s sarpanch Ali Jaan says 100 to 150 applications from his village are awaiting clearance and most forms, inquiries reveal, invariably, get “lost”.

Nuh MLA Zakir Hussain and another MLA from Mewat (not wanting to be named) make no bones about their displeasure. “We get such complaints routinely. This is a deliberate BJP design to delay and deny financial security. It has to do with the reckless saffronisation the government is pursuing,” they allege.

District Social Welfare Officer Varinder Singh, however, dismisses the charges. “All pending forms are clear up to April and there is no delay on our part,” he says even as villagers are at pains to narrate their side of the story.